The Rich Will Destroy London Like They Destroy Everything Else

One Hyde Park, where flats cost £100 million and no-one lives in them.

It is difficult to imagine a more grotesque situation than entire streets full of mansions lying empty in Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Kensington whilst just down the road the number of people sleeping in shop doorways soars. But this is the sad reality of a reckless free-market economy which turns our homes into just one more commodity to be gambled with by the rich.

It is impossible to guess just how big the London housing bubble will get, and how far outside of the capital the impact will stretch. The news that house prices have risen by 18% in just one year should chill everyone who hopes to continue actually living in the city.

London’s housing market is being turned into a billionaire’s casino, and as more money pours in those returns will keep getting bigger. Or at least they will until someone blinks. And then the whole sorry scam will come crashing down, leaving the not quite so obscenely rich – who thought they were the players – discovering that they have been well and truly fucking played.

The end result could be a disaster as London is split between a minority of buy to let landlords, who have several homes, and tenants with none who can no longer afford the rents demanded to compensate for mass negative equity.

The real fucking tragedy though is that the only thing worse than the bubble bursting is prices continuing to soar. Already most of the capital is unaffordable for those on low incomes. With housing benefits now capped far below rents in many areas, the vast majority of London’s private tenants are only a P45, an illness, or an accident away from being socially exported from the capital.

As prices soar the creative heart of London will be ripped apart. The days when young people could come to the capital, live in a squat, or a cheap if grotty shared house in somewhere like Hackney or Brixton are already long gone. It is no surprise that beyond over-hyped internet start ups and hipster twats, London’s cultural life is decaying from the bottom up – those at the top just can’t see it yet. Artists, actors and musicians will be forced to join the exodus out of the city along with street cleaners and care workers.

Social housing is now being re-structured as a stepping stone for young middle class professionals, with laughably called affordable rents set at 80% of soaring local rental markets. Many of those who already have a council flat are being bedroom taxed out of the capital. When these tenancies end, these homes too will convert to ‘affordable housing’ in many boroughs – which means they will be unaffordable for most people.

The problems do not end there. Hundreds of thousands of children are currently growing up in social housing in London who will never be able to afford to live here when they have families of their own. Meanwhile as the so-called ‘generation rent’ approaches old age, few will have pensions which cover London rents. The housing crisis in London is only just beginning.

Yet to hear the debate about London’s housing problems you would think the problem only affects ‘young professionals’ hoping to get on the housing ladder. It is as if the rest of us – millions of us – do not exist. The people who built this city, clean it, drive the buses and look after its children are being quietly abandoned with no thought at all to our lives, housing needs or futures.

Across London, from Deptford to Tottenham, luxury flats are springing up like a virus – the first warning to the poor that this is no longer our town. There was a time when gentrification took a couple of decades, areas like Notting Hill did not become the playgrounds of the rich overnight. Now as soon as a Foxtons opens next to the launderette you know you’re fucked.

When this onslaught is finally complete London will die. No-one wants to live in a city full of braying chinless wankers jabbering into smart phones about house prices all day. A global city of the super rich may sound like a utopia to the likes of Boris Johnson or the toffs in government. But they will destroy London like they destroy everything else. The end result will be a city that may have lots of places to buy fucking artisan cupcakes or quaff Champagne, but it will be a place with no soul. Their money will not be able to fix that.

Big Bill, I do hope you are right, but he’s been getting away so much for so long now I really can’t see what his going to ‘finish’ him (apart from a bullet!). Even if the people of Chingford were to vote him out (which they won’t), he’d just slither into another constituency where the citizens will vote for anything as long as it’s a Tory!

Iain Duncan Smith. It only remains for me to pronounce upon you the last sentence of the law. The time of all of us in this world is short.
With most of us it is uncertain – in your case your days are numbered.

Iain Duncan Smith you will be hanged by the neck upon a gibbet till you be dead.

I was unfortunateenough to see the lying bastard on the Andrew Marr programme this morning. He just refuted absolutely everything that was put to him, exactly the same as he did with Andrew Neil a few weeks ago. He really has got a very sick mind!

THE COMMENTS ARE TRULY FANTASTIC AND ARE A TRUE REFLECTION OF WHAT THE ELECTORATE THINK OF THIS SCUM BAG IN OFFICE………………….
NICE ONE, SAMWISE, EVERYONE SHOULD READ THE COMMENTS. THEY ARE A BAROMETER OF UK OPINIONS.

Wherever the rich go they destroy – the world over, many with no idea, most without a care. Once they’ve destroyed they look for a place that’s just like the one they’ve just destroyed- to ‘escape’ to!
London’s not special then but it’s the right place to try and put the brakes on.

Living a long way North of the Watford Gap,it puzzles me why London is the magnet for any one,over priced everything,crowded roads,a white face in a crowd a rarity,shortage of affordable housing;London has nothing going for it.

Let me assure you Mr Void and your readership that I’m not a racist in any way, shape or form but surely it would benefit the UK as a whole if those amongst us who clearly don’t belong in the UK were to be repatriated to their homeland? I am sure they would be only to willing to take up our kind offer of assistance. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, wouldn’t you say so?

Been to London a few times – trust me if you have never been – DON’T! – Anywhere inside the M25 ring road is a fucking nightmare and by the time you get to the centre of London you’ll want to shoot yourself.

So George, your idea of a place that has a lot ‘going for it’ is one where you’d mostly see white faces?? Well, if it means I’m less likely to be surrounded by racist wankers, I’m fucking glad I live in London then.

I went to Iceland, the country not the shop. Most of the passengers on both my planes, there and back, and at the airport, were black. And nobody was shouting at anybody. The only time there was trouble, was when we were over Greenland in the 2nd of 4 planes and a bunch of white British blokes got far too pissed and made a lot of noise. When I got to America the only time there was trouble was when stuff kicked off involving/between white people… most of whom turned out to be British. An excellent export…… Sure every country just LOVES the drunken British idiots that throw up in the street.

Sweden, Dublin, France… all now very multiracial places. As for London, there’s meant to be about 500 languages spoken there, which is just really cool. And people from different backgrounds can meet and fall in love and get together. And they do. The rest of the planet is real and not something to ignore, shut out, ban, mistrust, or attack. Besides, Britain has been going round for centuries stealing and settling other peoples’ land, pretending to ‘civilise the natives’, and claiming a divine or biological superiority right entitles them to do so. And shifting around millions of slaves, never mind a few million get killed in the process. Getting rich from slave labour and then using their own wealth and laziness to justify their position as rulers.

Go into a mine or cave and turn out the lights. Then what colour is anybody? Colour only happens when there is light and it has to be observed. It doesn’t taste, feel or smell a certain way.

The rich have no soul it’s about them and their money and not paying towards society!
How can anyone leave a house empty and ans still having to pay bills for it ?.. They must have it down as a tax loss!…. we need to tax these empty homes, take them back before they get into a mess, and of course put their council tax up if thet can afford a house worth millions then they can pay a lot more for living here/having a house here!
House the homeless not house the rich!

This is a shocking state of affairs. The unoccupied homes are just being left to fall into a state of disrepair and dilapidation. The reason being is that it is the LAND that they sit on that what is of real value. I pass through these areas every day. It is heartbreaking to see large swathes of perfectly good homes lying empty whilst just around the corner homeless people are freezing to death on the streets.

The rising moon faces the sickening sun,
as the lights in the tower blocks go on, one by one,
A big shot, overlooking this black iron skyline–
Surrounded by his symbols of prosperity–
Sits back in his new leather chair
ripped off the back of some unfortunate beast.
I’m smiling through my teeth.
Anybody can be a millionaire,
so everybody’s gotta try
but by the laws of this human jungle
only the heartless will survive.
& down there–but for the grace of god
–go I.

The smoke & the steam,
& the broken down dreams,
the hope, & the hunger,
frustration & anger,
the little drunken lives,–
drivin’ through the traffic lights
& away from who they are!

But I’ve been thinking of you–
In this great city of great solitude.

Crossin’ the central reservation, of my imagination,
Searchin’ for the world I … left behind.
A shadow hunting shadows of childhood life.
It’s all I want–& all I miss–
But how can I return
to a place that don’t exist?

from Mombasa to Miami, Beirut to Bangladesh,
I’ve flown around the world standing
on the wing of a jet.
Tryin’ to salvage my emotions
from the bottom of the oceans–

It is a shame you put everything in class war terms. I share your concerns that London is a place increasingly inhospitable to those of limited financial means. I don’t enjoy living in a valuable asset. However, I want to be in London and this is the price I have to pay.

The problem you describe is a consequence of a world where there is far greater freedom of movement and opportunity and London is seen as a good place to be by those from many other countries. They want to own property here because their peer group is here or because we are seen as being a safe place compared to their home country.

A lot of the wealth that has inflated prices in London is a direct consequence of people in other parts of the world moving out of abject poverty. Those who starved now have food, those who just survived are getting a decent education and the individual with a small business is becoming a wealthy entrepreneur. And some of them are buying in London. It is ironic that the class war solution is to try to hold down the poor and dispossessed of the developing world.

The solution in the UK is to invest in transport and communications so being in London ceases to be so important whilst relaxing planning rules so more housing can be built on the land we have. And like the Japanese who wish to live in Tokyo, we will have to get used to smaller homes in densely occupied cities. Or accept that the price of ‘acceptable’ accommodation is to move away from London.

Of the 8 million people in London there are no more than a few thousand who are unconcerned by house prices. Those who own their homes are also aware that pricing people out of the city is a major problem. The good thing about a market is that an equilibrium will be found.

I have. Having watched london suck the life out of every region in the country one has to be of the opinion that there are plans afoot to build a citadel which will be populated by rich parasites and slaves. london was built on the blood sweat and tears of miners, steel workers, mill workers, of Scotland Wales Ireland and the North. Now we don’t have them thanks to london and it’s sick corrupt politicians we are no longer needed.

richard
the success of london and the south east is based purely on it’s geographic trading position, with the rest of the world…..improved transport links with it, will only boost london’s economic power, at the detriment of the rest of the uk, and further drive out the working class poor, the issue is that the poor are being driven out of london….how to stop this transients for some, at the gain of/for the fabulously wealthy, is the question…capitalism causes massive human suffering and is entirely manufactured….capitalism whose goal/drive is purely mono-culture monetarism….it makes me feel hollow inside just to think of it ..or do you want better than that for yourself and future generations?

Thanks Overburdenddonkey. What are the alternative models to capitalism that have delivered elsewhere? I cannot think of a single country. Can you name some? Not only are the totalitarian / communist / lawless nations less prosperous. Their people suffer greater inequalities.

If Truro and Blackburn and Barnsley and Norwich (etc.) have good links to London people can live there but also travel to the Capital when the need arises. In the US people move for economic reasons. Why not in the UK as well?

High tax on empty properties is a good idea. But one needs to question why people leave valuable assets empty. For a few thousand people it may be such wealth that they don’t care. But that is a drop in the ocean of London properties.

The future I want for my children is a country where families welcome education and aspiration. Why do we accept low levels of literacy and numeracy and simply blame someone else? Why do families go without in the developing world to ensure an education for their children but we who in relative terms have so much take no personal responsibility for our futures?

Look at how Johnny Void can so eloquently express himself and then look at the appalling quality of so many of the replies, full of spelling and grammatical errors. How can people with such poor skills hope to get decent and well paid jobs? Why haven’t they made the effort to go to one of the many free courses to improve their skills and attractiveness to an employer?

richard
there are no extra decent well paid “wellbeing jobs”, wellbeing jobs are desperately short of in our economy, jobs 4m + jobs are required….so, capitalism has failed in any case, if ever its goal was to create sustainable employment, that is…
personal empowerment to know one’s own self and human rights, is the key….part of my solution is this…walter segal designed self build timber homes, with living roofs…low impact, no major foundations works…just blocks…http://www.forevergreen.org.uk/Forever_Green_Ecological_Architects/Hedgehog_Self_Build.html
only 7% of the uk is built on, truly….eco-villages + work share, worker coops, car share, central laundries, creches, food coops, solar capture, micro generation, food growing coops, on an on the list goes… one can even build them so they float, anchored of course…there is simply no need for a housing crisis…i don’t agree with your educational attainment model, i was branded backwards at school, i have seen so many bright people crushed into trying to achieve market driven unification goals…skills and attractiveness come from within…what jobs models are out there..i don’t have the time space not energy here now to include everything that i could post on this subject…i consider any cooperative social society (culture) that by default cannot have any connection to fascism, whether it be capitalist/communist or any other form of led cult…we are all born cooperative non-violent lovable and sociable, why do we need laws at all…unfortunately i doubt that you will be able to understand my position…that i know to be in truth…ie it is my hope that children get to know themselves better before schooling starts say start school at 7/8yrs old….

You are commenting as you are falling down to a lawless and less prosperous nation. The capitalism you talk of is built on corruption and cronyism, a ponzi scheme that even some capitalists believe will eventually collapse big time causing chaos around the World.

They can print more money and import more people it will not save them.

@voidseeker: You may be right. The system is certainly not perfect and all sorts of problems are heading in our direction. But other than utopian fantasies of goodwill to all men, I have not heard about a better way of organising large and complex societies.

By all means put the ‘ruling classes’ up against the wall. However, it won’t take long before there will be a new set of rulers and life for the majority will be as crappy as ever.

A tolerant and educated society where bright and ambitious people can transcend their roots is our best hope. Capitalism thrives on ambition which is why I believe it to be the fairest system.

So is your issue simply that welfare is being reformed and you disagree with both the new rules and the ways they are being implemented? Would an extra few billion to ensure that each person who feels / is incapable of working resolve your concerns?

But what about the elderly? Surely their pensions are inadequate and should be increased? Several billions will no doubt sort this.

And don’t forget healthcare where there are insufficient resources to meet each person’s complete needs. OK. Let’s get out the cheque book and find more billions.

And then there is housing. Surely we all should be entitled to a decent home? The size of our family and fragmentation due to relationship breakups are irrelevant. Each individual should be entitled to a place. Near their family / where they want to live of course. This one is a bit more tricky as we are a densely populated country so it is not just the billions we need but also the extra land.

The housing challenge will get a bit thornier as we will need to house the visitor workers who can do the demeaning jobs, like pick in the fields and serve in the coffee shops. But I am sure that this is simply a detail that can be addressed in due course. Many parts of the Middle East have a solution in place for guest workers. I am sure we can just adopt this.

Now, before I finish, we must remember to include all the low paid workers. I have not quite worked out how everyone’s wage can be increased whilst maintaining differentials and yet not leaving the lower paid feeling under-valued and hard done by. Let’s allocate another ten or twenty billion and assume this will do the trick.

So now that we have our plan for fairness and justice sorted we just need to rustle up a few hundred billion. Now we can tax the wealthy, those nasty bankers and FTSE 100 CEOs. But this only goes so far as beyond a certain level the high earners, who tend to be resourceful individuals, either leave the country or find ways of evading tax. There is no point taxing the previously poor as this results in them becoming poor again. Obviously Amazon, Google and Starbucks are good for a few quid. But if their affluent customers have gone, their staff costs have increased and they are facing higher taxes, is there a risk they may find other more attractive places to do business in?

OK. I have to admit I am stumped. Hopefully, someone on here has a workable plan?

richard
my plan works, will save billions, and more importantly will vastly improve wellbeing…unfortunately you have put the welfare bill under a magnifying class and is a drop in the ocean, compared to what the banks et al have stolen from us…pensions bill £104bn/yr…jsa £2.9bn/yr, more is lost in admin error £16bn goes unclaimed per yr…the only reason our economy needs a much money as it does is because of very poor economic management….use the mind i can tell that you have….but there will likely be no shift in your opinion…your posts discuss the symptoms of the systematic failures, of the capitalist system, we have only ever had a capitalist system for over 800yrs + now, the mentality is culturally ingrained and embedded in our minds, it is a hive mind structure/culture…that your mind seems to be incapable of breaking away from, if i could make the transition plain to see for you i would, but only you can get there, the treasure you seek from your outer world is actually within one….

Capitalism thrives on wealth and the wealthy know how to exploit the capitalist system for all it is worth.
We have the young coming out of university not being able to find work and don’t tell me that they cannot read or write you arrogant troll.
Britain is run on a class system and if everyone was aspirational who would carry out the menial tasks or do you advocate bringing back slavery via immigration to carry out the service industries.
Robots have not been invented yet that can perform all of the menial tasks and not everyone wants to be a aspirational pen pusher, but there are plenty of robotic pen pushers in parliament following crass policies dictated to from a middle class elite from all of the mainstream parties and some of the marginal ones too.

Do you actually believe that is not the case now?
I can tell you Sir; it IS.
Without immigrant workers living two to a room and working for £35
a day the better off in London would have to empty the second garage to employ a Nanny.

@guy fawkes Please don’t put words in my mouth. I did not state that the ‘young coming out of university’ … ‘cannot read or write’. There is a problem with numeracy and literacy and this is one of the major factors in youth (not graduate) unemployment. Poor educational attainment and poor employability skills are barriers in a world where employers need skills. Not so long ago, graduates were a small percentage of the population and many of them went into fast-track graduate employment schemes. These schemes still exist, however, they have not expanded to the same extent as university numbers. There are many people who leave university each year who aspire to a graduate scheme but don’t have the capabilities of those who actually secure these roles. A graduate role is designed to accelerate a more talented person’s career in an organisation. Simple maths means that this can only ever apply to a minority.

Capitalists and the middle classes of course have an advantage when it comes to exploiting the system. They have connections, confidence and familiarity. On the other hand, those who have experienced a more challenging upbringing often have more motivation. There is a reason that world champion boxers have tended to have difficult upbringings. I have worked for almost 30 years and met many successful people whose accents suggest they were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Once upon a time a person was born a serf and died one. I am extremely grateful that we don’t have a feudal or caste system in this country. Each person has to decide if s/he is happy with a menial job or wants something better. If something better is wanted then the individual, fortunately, has the opportunity to strive for something better. This could be an extremely competitive process required to get a place to study medicine or a far less difficult, but still competitive, application for a project manager position at the local council.

I am not one of the regulars on this site. I was doing some research and came across it and was moved to respond to Johnny Void’s post. I am not looking to troll this site and perhaps the extent of your thinking is to just agree with each other. It does not say much for you if an alternative and reasoned argument just results in ad hominem abuse.

There are many people who leave university each year who aspire to a graduate scheme but don’t have the capabilities of those who actually secure these roles. A graduate role is designed to accelerate a more talented person’s career in an organisation. Simple maths means that this can only ever apply to a minority.

You Richard, have been on here before and I have argued with you before on the same subject, you are nothing but an elitist who considers himself worthy of comment because he can spell, debate and insult those he considers beneath him.
The working class do not need to aspire to anything, most are capable of reasoned thought and know that they are the only ones that are productive in creating the wealth for the capitalists, who are sitting on their arses making money from their wealth, that is what you mean by aspirational. This country is run on financial services lending money to the poorest while all the while telling them to work harder to become aspirational and they can sit back and leech off the poor.
Capitalism is immoral.

Richard:
“There is a problem with numeracy and literacy and this is one of the major factors in youth (not graduate) unemployment. Poor educational attainment and poor employability skills are barriers in a world where employers need skills.”

Richard – You have some nerve criticising the grammar and spelling used by those who post on here when you begin sentences with “And” and “Or”.
One would expect the creator of a blog to be eloquent. Some people are good at writing and some are good at mathematics and some cannot improve in either regardless of how many free courses they do; and there are not enough jobs anyway.

Notwithstanding the above, I don’t set myself up as some lexical paragon. There is a world of difference between debatable grammatical usage and semi-literate streams of consciousness. An inability to complete an application form properly or write a covering letter will result in better paid opportunities ceasing to be available. Sheer pragmatism means that certain basic skills are useful if one wishes to have more choices in life. This is not politics. It is common sense.

In living my life I play to my strengths. Fortunately they are in areas that allow me to make a satisfactory living. I also work hard – hence why I have been at my computer all day. These are the choices I have made.

I freely admit I don’t have all the answers and I did not visit this site to insult. I was curious and happy to engage. If you look at my posts you may disagree with my views but you will not find any derogatory or arrogant statements. They are simply the views of someone who has worked for others, run a few small businesses and travelled extensively.

I have employed many people over the years, from unskilled positions to six-figure executives. I have never paid minimum wage and I have always treated with respect those I work with and have almost always had the same in return. In my current business my staff have to come first. Not out of altruism; simply because good people are hard to find and they will only stay if they feel valued and treated properly.

I am really sorry that several people have been offended by my posts. I genuinely believe that understanding the views of people who see things differently is both more useful and more interesting. Just mixing with people who vehemently agree creates a silo mentality and very rarely achieves anything positive.

Richard – Goodnight to you. You still haven’t replied to my argument that there are insufficient jobs for all those people who manage, with or without any help, to write a passable covering letter or fill in an application form without a spelling mistake. There are insufficient jobs for many people who are in the group of unemployed described as “job ready”. It follows, therefore that there are insufficient jobs for the group composed both of those who are “job ready” and those who are not. Regardless of whether or not your powers of expression in written form are admirable or even adequate, your basic arithmetical ability is highly questionable, and in my view non-existent. In criticising people’s forms of written self-expression you will inevitably set yourself up for similar criticism. You have posted links to support your use of the English language, and yet you end by separating “Anyway” and your following sentence with a full stop, when a comma would be the appropriate punctuation mark. My personal preference is to read the opinions of those who do not express the same opinion of the government and their various lackeys, and I do not understand political arguments anyway, which is one of the reasons I focused on your grammar. Obviously the author of this blog expresses the very opinions which you criticise, and that is why your opposite opinions are not well received on here, since followers of a blog do tend to be the supporters of the author’s opinions.
If I can understand arguments, if I can follow them and I am interested in them, then it does not bother me that the spelling or grammar is at fault. It does not bother me if they are in a stream-of-consciousness form or if they are in barely literate form. Not everyone has talents which make them suited to any particular job. Some just need to vent their anguish and despair at the situation in which the government has placed them, and this blog’s comments section is, I believe, one of the best places to do that.

@ Richard – “However, there are the best part of a million vacancies currently advertised in the UK. Even assuming that a quarter of these adverts are not genuine opportunities, this is still a lot of jobs that some people will get.” This doesn’t really mean anything. People constantly move about within the labour market and it is, of course, easier to get a job once you already have a job. Many vacancies are created simply by people changing jobs and in many cases those jobs will be snapped up by other people moving jobs. When I was made redundant a couple of years ago, I could not crack into jobs I could easily do and had he skills for but were slightly different to what I usually do. Many times I was told a few years ago I’d have got the job but these days they’re awash with applicants who do that exact same job already who always win. I was also repeatedly told by interview panels they were astonished by the high quality of applicants – because there are so many highly skilled people out of work of course. I only got a job by being lucky.
I recently got a new job where there were two posts going and both myself and the other successful applicant already worked at the same place and thus knew the systems and knew what they wanted. The other 165 applicants did, as it turned out, have no chance from the outset

Actually, you made assumptions about peoples abilities who have posted on here on the basis of ‘presented English language skills’.
This is a blog discussion not an exam.
A journalist may need to excel in such things,a novelist not so much. That is what proof readers are paid for.
There are some pretty fucking dumb journalists out there who wouldnt know how to change a spark plug without wielding a Fifty pound note, but plenty of intelligent people who can build bridges or use a computer to set up the ignition timing BTDC variance curve on a formula 1 racing car who might get the odd grammar fail.
i bet Tesla’s Spelling was poor.
Einstein was prone to the odd (no pun) arithmetic error so checked his sums.
You Sir, are just a prat.

I made a comment about poor numeracy and literacy skills being a barrier to employment. The grammatical pedantry related to @guy fawkes objecting to how I structure my sentences. Of course there is no problem with a person using the comments to ‘vent their anguish and despair’. Upon reflection it was a cheap shot for me to comment about the literacy of some of the posts.

The main point is that too many people in this country have a problem with numeracy and literacy and this affects their opportunities. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24433320. Why is this even contentious? Do you genuinely believe that, whoever’s fault it is, lacking basic numeracy and literacy is not a problem?

As to @Fellow JCP Sufferer/Customer’s point that there are too few jobs out there. S/he is correct. Not only are there too fews jobs available, many of them are also jobs that people don’t wish to do or not where the jobseeker lives or the hours don’t suit childcare obligations.

However, there are the best part of a million vacancies currently advertised in the UK. Even assuming that a quarter of these adverts are not genuine opportunities, this is still a lot of jobs that some people will get.

Johnny Void’s post was not about employment. It was about the problem of unaffordable housing in London. I commented because I think he is correct to highlight what is a major problem. However, it is both wrong and ineffective to see it as a class issue.

I take the point about followers of a blog being supporters of the author’s views. Surely one can develop ideas faster and more effectively by seeing different sides of an argument. If one wants to bring about change one needs to engage with those who see things differently and open their minds to new ways of looking at things. Just calling people prats may be temporarily satisfying but it rarely achieves much.

Richard:However, there are the best part of a million vacancies currently advertised in the UK. Even assuming that a quarter of these adverts are not genuine opportunities, this is still a lot of jobs that some people will get.

I think the number of ‘advertised’ vacancies in the UK is much higher than that, maybe 10+ million, but the problem is they don’t actually exist.

As an example, the 500k ‘vacancies’ advertised on Unusable Jobmatch could easily be doubled to 1 million ‘vacancies’ advertised simply by insisting that employers advertise their vacancies for twice as long.
Think about it!

Just as not single one of these ‘extra’ 500k would actually exist as a ‘vacancy’, this is already happening within the first 500k.

On any “one day” there’ll be roughly 25k vacancies, and 5 million unemployed chasing them.

Btw, my point wasnt that the posters on here support the author’s views, it was that this is not an A level English exam.
People write as they see fit. If you spoke to me in a bar as you write on here, I would still assume you are a prat. It isnt called for,is it?
If you did not understand what I was getting at, I have trouble believing
you are the uber employer you state as you obviously lack some comprehension. Perhaps an evening course?

“However, there are the best part of a million vacancies currently advertised in the UK. Even assuming that a quarter of these adverts are not genuine opportunities, this is still a lot of jobs that some people will get.” Richard, you don’t seem to grasp the ratio at all. “…a lot of jobs that some people will get.” Do you genuinely fail to realise how vague that sounds? Even assuming, as you do, that there are three quarter of a million genuine vacancies, if we reduce the numbers in line with the ratio that gives 75 vacancies for every 250 unemployed people. What does it matter whether the remaining 175 people try harder to improve their literacy, their numeracy, whether they apply for more jobs or less? There will still only be 75 vacancies to be filled. The actual people successful in getting the 75 jobs may be reshuffled, unemployed person A might get any particular job instead of unemployed person B, but that’s all. Everyone who is unemployed knows that the government takes the same attitude as you, basically that more of us could be in work if we only tried harder. We also know that if we are so much as 5 minutes late for a signing or an appointment we could be plunged into a sanction. It is true that this particular post is not specifically about employment or about unemployment, but your comments certainly relate to employment and unemployment. Anyway, Richard, I have argued with you as much as I am willing, as I consider my time to be precious, and do not normally engage in such online debates.

Just a thought; often CVs are asked for by the jobcentre, but for jobs that would not normally require a CV to be produced. For low or unskilled jobs. Often a CV, experience, age, education, skills, intelligence count heavily against you when you are being forced by the jobcentre to apply for those jobs. In fact the more literate you are, the less likely you are to be given a job in an unskilled position, or at a place like a work programme provider or the jobcentre. At the latter two, compassion and humanity seem to be pre-existing, automatic barriers to employment. At the most basic economic level, an employer may only want to hire the youngest possible workers, because they can legally pay them the least. They can’t be seen to be discriminating, so pay lip service to equality by interviewing older applicants, usually to the full knowledge of both parties that the employer has no intention of employing the person.

richard
when others describe themselves as you describe yourself, and in particular use statements to describe one’s actions as/to not being the following…”If you look at my posts you may disagree with my views but you will not find any derogatory or arrogant statements.” you describe exactly what you are….

Richard, i am afraid you live in a completely different world to me……
I live in the north east where wages are usually below a couple of hundred quid per week.
Building a high speed rail link to our areas is a complete waste of money as most can’t afford a rail ticket to the capital on the existing shambles.

You have no idea of how the rest of the country, outside of your little empire exists.

I have been found to have a disability for life and have had my benefits stolen.
Try living on £32 per week, it might open your eyes to the real world that you all seem to ignore……………

“The problem you describe is a consequence of a world where there is far greater freedom of movement and opportunity and London is seen as a good place to be by those from many other countries. They want to own property here because their peer group is here or because we are seen as being a safe place compared to their home country.”

The people currently buying here are Chinese. They’re buying here because they need a safe haven when/if China descends into anarchy.

“A lot of the wealth that has inflated prices in London is a direct consequence of people in other parts of the world moving out of abject poverty. Those who starved now have food, those who just survived are getting a decent education and the individual with a small business is becoming a wealthy entrepreneur.”

Let me enlighten you about the Chinese economy. It is the ultimate capitalist system – a kleptocracy. The West is presented with a complete fiction when it comes to the Chinese economy. Firstly 7.6% growth is a fiction it is closer to 0.5%. Economic data coming out of China should be treated with the utmost scepticism. The richest 70 members of the government have a net worth of $89.8 billion, over a billion dollars each! You don’t that rich from a communist party salary. [For comparison the 660 members of the US government have a net wealth of just $7.5 billion]. You do not acquire that amount of wealth by hard work, free enterprise or any of the other euphemisms – you do it by theft and by fraud. Those at the top have looted the economy, a fact which is mostly kept from the ordinary citizens – so far.

Let me enlighten you, about your mother country. Which, given time will be the next Rome.
Your mother country refused to accept continual offers from the IMF and the World Bank
Aka American bribes.
America and Russia are shitting their pants knowing that China, is about to become the The Next Super Power .
I think the Chinese call it, The New World Order.

Anton,
I see that you agree with me that money laundering exists.
I see that you agree with me that money laundering ends up in UK property markets.
I see that you agree with me that Chinese money will be given a safe haven to launder money.
China and anarchy are the same thing.
And last but not least, how the hell can people in abject poverty move into other parts of the world.

@Raining Protecting British manufacturing against cheap imports from lower cost exporting countries and preventing service functions from being outsourced to other countries. Both will, temporarily, protect British jobs and in doing so deprive the factory worker in China or the accounts clerk in Bangalore of employment. Or the subsidies that protect British farmers that close our markets to developing country producers.

We can only give well paid employment to the unskilled British ‘working class’ if we close our doors to developing nation competition that has a huge cost advantage. Our alternative is to up-skill and generate our wealth as a higher margin knowledge economy. However, my other comments advocating this have not exactly been well received.

Because successive governments have done their level best to destroy trades, manufacturing and unions as they do not believe
a trained mechanical engineer who can operate a cnc milling machine or build an aircraft wing should get more than minimum wage.
When T.Burculosis.Liar said to Angela Merkel
‘Germany seems to be less effected by the recession’
she retorted;
‘Thats because we still MAKE things Mr Blair’.
It IS a class war. I admire the late Bob Crow for keeping his workers in pace with the rich. £6 for a one stop journey if you pay cash?
Shit yeah. The customers will never see a price reduction so get it while you can. It will be driverless soon enough.

We can only give well paid employment to the unskilled British ‘working class’ if we close our doors to developing nation competition that has a huge cost advantage. Our alternative is to up-skill and generate our wealth as a higher margin knowledge economy. However, my other comments advocating this have not exactly been well received.

You really think you are a wealth creator and work provider with your fountain of wordy, windbag knowledge if the above comment and your other posts are anything to go by.
Put you in a job that needs real skill, not to mention physical strength and I bet we would see you floundering.

You really have a delusionary high opinion of yourself don’t you? Do you think other people do not know basic economics? They also know that people are out of work because of cheap labour abroad and the fact that the working class cannot compete comparatively with a low wage economy, yet this government thinks it can pay the public servants who have sold our country to the highest bidder huge salaries and pensions without any questions being asked where the money is coming from for that.

Capitalism is corrupt and so are it’s servants.
What was that saying “you can’t serve two masters God and money”?

p s richard
if everyone followed in YOUR utopian dream world view footsteps and we all became capitalists as you suggest, our planet would no longer be our/a bio-sphere…but an even more deleterious place, for human wellbeing etc etc and an even greater industrial, soul destroying/destroyed waste land, than it is NOW…be careful of what you dream/wish of/for/…capitalism for all is simply not possible, the lie we have been fed for generation is shown up for what it is, a lie….skara brea…

g fawkes
perhaps we should all become capitalists and wipe ourselves out, it would after all save a lot of future human suffering….but capitalist torture relies souly on one thing our survival instincts that are being used against us right now…we try to halt it’s onslaught, are we really doing ourselves any favours, but merely acting as the moral “carbon sink” for it’s progress…but as capitalism is self limiting in it’s structure, we cannot consume enough to bring about our/it’s rapid decline, and solve the problem once and for all, in any case….but, also as we are actively prevented from all being capitalist by cause of artificial class structures, the very thing that richard cites as our saviour, that the aspiration crap he expounds as the cure for all, that in reality only the few can be beneficent of ludicrously lavish lifestyles to lord over the rest of us with….so now we clearly see that capitalism is not set up to save humanity at all, but only the phew…

Only the PHEW indeed :)
Richard contradicts himself all of the time and sounds very much like Fink?

I listened to St. Matthews passion but it was a bit dark for my taste, my friend who loved Mahler would love him, personally I prefer piano concerto’s by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Strauss as my mother always played the piano at home when we were young, although not classical music in the highbrow sense, usually theme music from musicals of the day.

g fawkes
malher yes, the rachnaninoffs yes, if you love tchaikovsky and i do, try his violin concerto in D minor…there is one in particular recorded in 1940/50’s that is absolutely sublime, i have it on tape, but that is all i know about it….i can see the attraction of strauss and his rhythms, as they are superb…i just love music that in some way conveys soul from one human being to another, what ever it’s genre….try robert schmann….there is just so much…

Sorry to hear about your medical problems obd, in answer to your question, no I don’t play a musical instrument only my mother and sister are musical, my mother a natural could play anything by ear but could not read a note of music, my sister plays acoustic guitar and is also a really good singer, she used to do the club circuits in and around our town area, I do have a good musical ear though for recognizing hit songs and singers in contemporary music.

TBH I think Londoners should accept the city is lost and move out en masse. A huge wall could then be built around it sealing the politicians, bankers and the rest of the rich inside. This would lead to Escape From New York style social chaos as the imprisoned useless tier of society formed gangs to force rivals into cleaning their houses and staffing coffee shops. Cameras could be installed so we could watch the drama unfold on telly.

I have never wanted to live in, or near, London. I visited twice and would never go there again. I didn’t know what country I was in and the language barriers in shops and cafes was disgraceful.
I have absolutely no qualms about putting it behind a wall and keeping it from the rest of the UK – I think it may be the perfect answer for us all.
They are pushing out the undesirables (that’s everyone who isn’t rich), yet they know that without us they would collapse – they’d have to care for their own children, run the schools, they’d have to cook for their families, they’d have to do their own washing, the list is endless! Then who serves them in the shops? the bars? the restaurants etc.
I’m staying far far away in Scotland where I don’t have to worry about those in London as they don’t exist to me anymore, just like we don’t exist to London – well, they are interested a wee bit now that independence draws closer :)

London will become like expat enclaves abroad, where the lights are out most of the year in neighbourhoods mostly of holiday homes. But even more in London, foreign investment buys houses and then leave them empty, going derelict. The land beneath the houses is the investment.

I have found a new party to vote for in the 2015 general election – Left Unity Party – that needs your membership – http://leftunity.org/

My interest to find a new party to vote for is because of nil benefits, nil state pension by all current political class, after a lifetime in work paying 12 per cent of my annual salary in National Insurance:
Nil pension at 80 from 2016, No Pension Credit, SERPs, S2P, nil income for millions forever in old age:https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/state-pension-at-60-now

Reblogged this on The Heckler and commented:
We’ve written a number of pieces such as this one – http://southessexheckler.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/london-overspill/ – on the problems caused by the impact of London’s overspill that in part results from the policy of making the capital city a welcome place for the global super rich and the subsequent consequences in terms of social cleansing. Well, it looks as though we’re not the only ones trying to get this message across… This piece from The Void looks at the issue from the perspective of low income Londoners who are effectively being socially cleansed from the capital. We reckon this piece is well worth a read…

Of course the rich will import workers from other countries ones who dont have the sense of entitlement as those i the UK.. like a living wage, or a house, or be able to feed their kids.. They will brink in people who will work for peanuts.. Or even work fare people then they wouldnt even have to pay peanuts.. the poorest the sickest will be moved to other places until there are too many people and they will be moved on..and so on until there is no place for them anymore

And what are Kensington and Chelsea worried about? Tenancy fraud. In particular:

“Kensington & Chelsea has identified a problem with its out-of-Borough temporary accommodation. Some people who are re-housed there temporarily are actually staying with friends and relatives in Kensington &
Chelsea but claim to be living there so as not to lose their ‘place on the
housing register’. These properties have been targeted for tenancy audits.”

andrew marr has copped a lot of flack over his interview with smith but mr marr donated over a million quid to the labour party,hes shackled by the bbc especially since his stroke..i saw a photo in the press of smith crying over a glasgow sink estate,i studied the footage,this was about 8 years ago,on that day he decided to wage a war on the poor only he knows why,something sickened him “reality” now we pay the price,i know full well things will not be better under a labour gov but SURELY we want these fuckers out,i feel strongly that this libcon are ill a sickness runs through them and one last point milliband is weak,we know that but wouldnt that make a little more open to peoples plight ide love your opinoins

agreed dave but even marr fears for his job and yes labour started a lot of the shit but im so angry at the tories for blaming them for killing folk for expenses and arrogance on a personal level ide love them to lose in 2015 and be hounded into an early grave for there crimes

Was wondering when someone would mention this show. The trailer shows a man with no legs, getting about on a skateboard. Presumably IDS has a lovely job lined up for him on a building site, or a motorway… This show looks to be totally racist. If a bloke has no legs and doesn’t even get a wheelchair, of course he should get disability benefits and support!
Whether he is green or brown, or orange with purple spots on. Surely most of the BNP couldn’t be so bright and resourceful if suddenly they had no legs. Perhaps that’s a theory worth testing…

C5 planning a new, all-singing; all-flinching gameshow for 2014. Called “What’s my (2nd) Language?” – where contestants play for benefits. Featuring some of the (not so) happy-go-lucky, newly-arrived guests ts to England’s mean, unpleasant land – optimists from around the world who are to be compelled to take part, in particular those who have the brass neck “To Come Here” knowing full well(!!) that English Is Not(!) Their First Language, as well as the audacity to not be in regular, paid, more & better work – instantly, on arrival (cue canned outrage) …

“What’s My (2nd) Language” wlll be filmed outdoors (winter months) and in an airtight studio (in summer) & played on a (not so) level playing field – full of potholes and includes (past and future) tense Gladiator-esque style chanting and a brass band playing, on a loop. Contestants ‘volunteer’ for a series of language-based challenges, in a (desparate) bid to increase the money they’re allowed to live on while jobsearching – to anything from ‘nil’ to three-pounds 72p a week.

A score of over 97% (written English language) = exemption from further testing for up to 6 months !! Anyone scoring below 25% (spoken-English tests) like IDS/E.McVey, must do up to 340 hours of (home)work every week & this will be televised/shown to members of the general public at the following week’s sensational ‘reveal’.

Registering with Universal Jobmatch will be integral to WM2L – although no-one yet quite knows why … with participants facing being (literally) eliminated should they fail to complete this challenge. Small amounts of money are won and ‘banked’ along the way, – the price of a packet of biscuits, say, or a piece of fruit, & occasionally these may be distributed to the contestants/their children, in ad-breaks. Credits for foodbanks – redeemable after the first three months of living on next to nothing/the kindness of friends and family – can be won/earned, and there will be a rolling prize of a 3-week, sanction-free period per year – to use at any JCP- (max one per year throughout the whole of the UK).

Time for another week of hate against the poor. It was supposed to have been started yesterday by Smith but he was too busy defending proven fraudster Maria Miller. Instead the delusional buffoon will make yet another speech about ending the signing on and something for nothing culture, but only as it applies to paupers not MPs. Tomorrow it will be Mike Penning’s turn to attack “fraudsters”, harsh words from a man who claimed £2.49 for an Asda dog bowl (obviously vital for him to do his parliamentary duties) and on Wednesday Fester McVile will simply screech until everyone’s ears bleed.

It’s only a matter of time until house prices TOTALLY collapse, problem will be that not many will have any money to buy!, the banks will have gone under, private and public pensions gone, I could go on and on, but, I think you get the picture.

But that’s the way it works; an asset rises in price, there follows some ‘profit-taking’, it falls back in price allowing for a ‘buying opportunity’ at a lower price. It is just that house prices tend to follow a longer term trajectory unlike say the FTSE which if it halved in value would re-gain the ground within a few years. To say ‘TOTALLY collapse’ is a bit of hyperbole though because there will come a point when house prices become so cheap that nobody will want them (buy high- sell low) but eventually a ‘bull’ market will emerge and they will start to rise again. But like anything other speculative/investment class it is all about timing the top and bottom of the market which for most of us is impossible. Houses will never become worthless as say in the case of JJB Sports or Marconi shares.

Just to add, it is true what you say that when/if house prices do fall in value very few people will be able to buy them. You will need CASH to make a purchase. Mortgages at low interest are only readily available when house prices are already over-inflated and as a means of further inflating the price. We could reach a situation of 100% LTV (Loan-to-Value) ratios, hefty deposits and high interest rates.

You miss what this is all about, it has nothing to do with money!, money is just one of the tools that is being used to bring about a state of global chaos, for that is where we are heading. What will follow is what the few want

That happened to me ages ago. I never gave JCP my email address and refused to give it. Now they send me emails, I suppose UJM gave it to them. Illegal data breach, without my knowledge or consent. I also don’t want the arrogant pompous prick who is my new advisor (who has never seen a disabled person till now!), in my face emailing me personally as if he were a friend. Fucking stalker. Creep. He can fuck right off, I have enough problems and hassle already. Not to mention that his UJM causes me to receive 800 spam/scam/porn emails some days and to the point where my email doesn’t function. In the first 30 seconds of meeting me he already managed to make a number of ablist comments, so that shows his ignorance and disrespect. The jobs he sends me are all irrelevant, and shite, and impossible for me to do. He’s making me apply for one at a chain store, but not the branch in my own city – perversely he makes me apply to a town half an hour’s bus away. Ironically he doesn’t get that if I have/make time to read and respond to his shit, I’ll have no time to either delete the spams or to look for jobs. I said I can’t stand up all day and they want you to be dynamic and energetic! Well I’ll tell them, I’m tired all the time and have ME and a crap immune system, metabolic problems, crap blood, and a shedload of other things, would you like to employ me and I’ll need to sit down most of the time. When I have a major seizure I can sleep a day, then not know where I am. I’ll need time off for doctors, clinics, treatment, and the 20-odd flu’s I get a year, many lasting 2 weeks. And that’s just for starters…
In other words he totally ignored everything I said and made me apply to a job I can’t do. Which puts me in the position of having to lie I’m healthy, or tell the truth and be sanctioned. Or not apply, and be sanctioned.

the rich are killing London its not a new thing its been going on for decades the curse of gentrification .I grew up in Fulham sw6 and people say you must have been middle class and rich no we wernt Fulham was a very working class area in the 60s and 70s its in the early 80s when the yuppies started moveing in the streets are now litteraly empty rows and rows of empty trophy houses no one around exept polish builders ,the soul of Fulham is dead killed by the dead eyed rich this will happen all over London ..there killing hackney and Brixton as we speak.

I am not very good at debating nor have an excellent command of written English. I have however, two low paid jobs. One part time helping those with mental health issues, which include employment related stress, finding employment. The other is working behind a bar. I would love to live in London, however even working six days a week I could not afford to do so.. I would need extra financial support to top up my income to pay rent and essential day to day products, and why should I not be able to afford to have a holiday, I think I deserve one. The only way I can see a way forward is to move parliament out of London to .Birmingham or some other mid country location. This would hopefully bring rent down, Politicians would not need such extravagant expenses and would stop people like Boris Johnson and rich landlords using the city as a cash cow. Most of the housing benefits do not go to the taxpayers nor the claimants but line the overflowing pockets of people who have inherited extreme wealth. I would imagine it would also help people to feel more connected to the political system.
If you don’t agree with this, please challenge the content and not the delivery. .. .

Over the previous 12 months, according to a blog on the website owned by estate agent Best Gapp (http://www.bestgapp.co.uk/news/property-gulf-widens), international and domestic cash buyers helped to push up prices in prime London areas such as Kensington, Chelsea, Belgravia, Mayfair and Knightsbridge. The knock-on effect means that the average house price in the capital has increased to £500,000. While prices started to cool off a little towards the end of 2014, a chronic lack of supply means property prices in the capital will remain out of the reach of many Londoners.
This is why renting is the only option for many London residents who do not already own their own home. This is not such a bad option. Long-term tenants have the advantage of being able to make their rental property a home without having to worry about the cost of purchase or maintenance.

The doctors’ union has finally agreed to tell every GP in the country about two regulations that campaigners believe could protect disabled people facing the controversial “fitness for work” test Continue reading →

Saturday 30th May, 10.30am-5.30pm, London Welsh Centre (10 minutes’ walk from King’s Cross station) Faced with policies that are pushing ever more people into precarity and poverty, thousands of us have been coming together to support each other. We are pushing back workfare, standing up to sanctions, challenging the work capability assessment and fighting i […]

For a while DPAC has been aware of ESA claimants in the Support Group receiving letters from the DWP asking them to attend a Work Related Interview. Although the letters say that attendance is on a voluntary basis, these letters have created much anxiety and uncertainty among claimants. ESA claimants in the Support Group do… Continue Reading For ESA claima […]

A new film by Y-Stop aims to highlight rights and vital skills for young people in handling police stop and search incidents. Y-Stop is a collaboration between charities, lawyers, young people, youth workers, community and media organisations and is run by Release in partnership with StopWatch and Fully Focused. For more information visit y-stop.org